Movie script on CIA, cartel drug runner 'Mena' sells for $1 million

UNDATED (KTHV) -- The story of a man who ran drugs across state lines operating out of the west Arkansas town of Mena is headed to the big screen.

Deadline reported Feb. 8that the film 'Mena', a script by Gary Spinelli, sold for $1 million to Universal Studios. Deadline is also reporting Ron Howard is slated to direct.

This is how Deadline describes the movie:

"The spec is a fact-based tale about Barry Seal, a portly pilot who, in the 1980s, was a 300-pound gun runner, and drug trafficker who transported contraband for the CIA and the Medellin cartel. He was eventually shot to death by the latter in Baton Rouge. The title refers to Mena, Arkansas, where a lot of the illegal activity took place, under the noses of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and then-Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton."